New Group Calls On Non-Military Families To Donate To Veterans

Philip Green, pictured with his wife Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, started the Veteran Support Fund. (Courtesy IAVA)

Health care consultant Philip Green says he feels a “moral obligation” to donate money to veterans because his three kids chose not to join the military.

The 62-year-old president of PDG Consulting says he’s been spared the sleepless nights that families of deployed soldiers have felt in recent wars, so he and some friends have contributed $1 million dollars towards the Veteran Support Fund that they created.

They aim to raise $30 million to support five veterans groups, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the first and largest non-profit, non-partisan organization for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, which will also house the fund.

Green, whose wife, Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, works at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, told Here & Now’s Robin Young that he isn’t donating and raising money out of a sense of guilt, but out of gratitude.

“Our family owes a special debt to those people who are serving, and those families who have kids, who are serving,” Green said.

Green hopes that ultimately the fund will become an umbrella fundraising organization for thousands of struggling veteran groups.